Chapter Text
No, no, no. Not today.
The pain started as soon as he woke up, it was more uncomfortable than painful actually, so he ignored it and got changed for his morning run. Though the run only worsened his situation cause the pressure on his abdomen was becoming noticeable and pretty much annoying, maybe he was just hungry.
Except he was not.
Tobio cursed himself as he hunched over the floor while covering his mouth with his left hand. As soon as he took a bite of the avocado toast he prepared, he felt his stomach twist and sting painfully, the pain sending a wave of nausea and disgust through his mouth and throat. No way he was gonna throw up, he never got sick so it couldn't be that, not that day at least; not the day his boyfriend was finally coming back from Brazil, what was he sick from anyways? He followed the same protein and vitamin based meal plan since he was eighteen so it couldn't be anything he ate, what was it then?
He swallowed, taking a deep breath and closing his eyes for a minute, trying to regulate his sensations. Maybe he just needed some rest. He stood up, taking a glass of water and heading to the living room, sitting on he couch mindlessly. Even the water disgusted him, but he paid no mind to it. What else could he do?
"Oh, you're awake. Isn't it earlier than usual?" He heard the soft voice of one of his former teammates, now roommate. He turned his head to face him and nodded.
"Morning, Tadashi. It's pretty early for you too though, you heading to school?"
"Right, good morning, Tobio!" He smiled at him, raising a single hand vertically in front of his face as an apology for not greeting him firsthand. "And nope, I'm heading to work. I'm taking the morning shift for one of my coworkers so I have to go early. What about you?" He talked as he packed his lunch for later, not looking at Tobio but clearly paying attention to him.
"Dunno, just woke up earlier. Probably I'm just anxious or something like that." He said in a low tone, almost as a mumble. Tadashi nodded.
"Well, you should totally make the best of your day off. Get some rest and eat properly, alright?" He smiled at him from the kitchen counter, giving a quick glance at his watch, gasping and heading to the main door. "Gotta go, please make sure Kei has a proper breakfast. See ya." He rushed through the door, not even waiting for Tobio to give a response.
So now he was alone again, with his nausea and his thoughts as his only company. He should probably head back to sleep, taking naps always helps him when he feels like getting sick so probably that'll make the trick. Wouldn't it?
He fell asleep as soon as he laid down on his bed, letting the comfort of his mattress to surround him. And he continued to sleep his discomfort and soreness away for the whole morning and part of the afternoon; and after almost ten hours of sleep he woke up but he was far from feeling better. Now he was feeling dizzy and hot, in the bad, irritating way.
The nausea got worse as well, now he was sure he would throw up at any second so he stood up as careful as possible to not worsen his corporal stress. His head was throbbing and everything was spinning around him, his breath came out shakily and a chill crawled up his spine. He hardly managed to walk out of his room, he needed to get to the restroom, and fast.
He noticed Kei was up already, probably preparing lunch since he seemed to be cooking and Tobio doubted it was a breakfast cause he was pretty sure he slept the whole morning and Tsukishima probably woke up not much time after Tobio actually went to sleep again. He forgot to make sure he had a proper breakfast as Tadashi told him to check, he should apologize to his friend about that, maybe.
His current concern was making it to the bathroom without making a mess anywhere else on the apartment, but it was being difficult. He feels his limbs heavy, his mouth and throat feel dry and raspy and his headache is sending waves of pain through his skull. It hurts, it hurts so bad.
He manages to make it to the restroom, opening the door carefully and closing it behind him with shaky hands. He feels like shit, he takes a glance at the mirror and he pretty much looks like shit. His mouth feels dry even though he's salivating, and his throat still feels like burning, he leans against the sink in front of him. He's gonna throw up.
His vision is blurry, he feels his throat burning as he gags over the sink, nothing is actually coming out but he's trembling. He walks slowly to the toilet seat, legs weak and wobbly, guiding himself with his touch only. He slams his whole weight against the floor as he lets his knees give out under him.
He couldn't take it anymore, he hated feeling so sick, so vulnerable. So weak.
He breathes heavily, a sob accidentally escaping his lips. And then, the thought of maybe getting out of this by himself faded away as he felt a wave of acid rushing up his throat. He hunched over the toilet seat and grasped his hands around it, gagging once and then, on the second one, he spilled everything he ate that morning right there and then, probably even what he ate the day before cause the way he was actually tearing up and had some sort of liquid spilling even out his fucking nose after at least five waves of gut wrenching painful vomit, gave him a clear sign he was not getting out of this on his own. God, he hated throwing up, but he hated even more asking for help on this kind of situations.
He couldn't call Shoyo, he was probably on his plane, still a couple of hours away from landing on Tokyo, plus the couple of hours driving to Tadashi's apartment. So all he had left was either the mentioned or his boyfriend, Tsukishima.
And he would a million times prefer to drown in his vomit and die from sickness than to ask that man for help but if he waited till night for Shoyo to arrive he wouldn't lose time scolding him for literal hours while taking him to the hospital, it's probably one of those things his boyfriend would bring up everytime he got sick or prioritized volleyball or any other thing over his own health -which was actually more often than it should- so he didn't want to risk it.
He was sweating, trembling and crying but, what other options did he have? He couldn't even breath properly, much less call or talk to anyone; plus, he wanted to avoid explanations so the annoying twenty-something guy on the kitchen was pretty much his only option.
"K-" He tried to call out for the blonde, clearly failing as he started coughing. His throat was burning horribly, even swallowing hurt, but he had to get over it if he wanted to get out of that restroom for once. "K... Kei" he started calling, it was soft and barely audible at first but he tried again, raising his tone a bit more every try. "Kei, help" he started coughing again, swallowing heavily as his nausea came back. He tried to breath, hoping the taller man actually heard at least the last one of his pathetic pleads as he closed his eyes and tried to steady his breathing.
A minute passed, then two, then five. No one came. He threw up again, three waves of vomit this time. He was getting anxious and it wasn't helping his situation.
Fuck.
He breathed heavily, his eyes closed tightly, gathering himself to call out for his roommate again. "Kei!" He panted at the extra effort for raising his voice as much as he could at the moment. "Please" he mumbled that one part, mostly to himself, he just really felt like he was going to pass out and even if Tsukishima wasn't the first person he would ask help to, he was the one there and he hated to admit it, but he needed him. He let out a relieved breath as he heard steps getting close to the restroom, an annoyed yet confused Tsukishima stepping outside and knocking, he didn't want to risk seeing Kageyama naked or anything, he valued his eyesight.
"Come in" Tobio said as he rested his head against the wall besides him, closing his eyes.
"I think you're getting way too comfortable with this roommate situation, king" He chuckled slightly, still not daring to open the door. "First you call me by my first name and now you want me to watch you taking a shit? I'll pass" He said half-joking, trying to irritate the dark haired man across he door, but he got actually somewhat worried when he got no response.
"Please..." Barely a murmure, but Kei could manage to hear it. He sighed, opening the door and actually getting taken aback at the sight of the setter looking almost lifeless against the wall, sitting on the floor. Then he noticed the smell, he frowned but made no comment about it.
"You fine?" He softened a little his tone, as he hunched over to look at him. Kageyama was pale, he was sweating and breathing heavily through his mouth. "You look like shit"
"I know" He mumbled, swallowing dry, hoping Tsukishima got the hang of the situation and actually helped him, cause if he talked again or was asked to explain anything he would throw up one more time. Kei extended his hand and reached out for Kageyama's forehead, realizing as soon as he made contact with his skin that he had a fever. A bad one.
"You think you're gonna die or you can handle it with a bath and some medicine?" He waited a couple of seconds for a response but he sighed as he saw the man in front of him metaphorically fighting for his life just to talk. "Just, one or two, use your fingers, genius" He rolled his eyes in annoyance, watching carefully as Kegeyama raised his hand in front of him. He showed two fingers to the blond. "So no hospital, right?" He asked for confirmation, getting a single nod for it.
Kei stood up, walking to the bathtub and opening the faucet for hot water. He then flushed the toilet and extended both of his hands to the guy on the floor. Tobio held his weight on the support he was being given and stood up, closing his eyes at the dizziness that came with it. Kei, guided him to the bathtub slowly, indicating him to sit down on he edge of it. Kageyama then opened his eyes, still frowning at the pain and discomfort he was feeling.
"I need to know what should I give you. Just nod or whatever, yeah?"
"Mhm" Kageyama hummed as a positive response. His head was throbbing, if he moved he would get sicker, he was sure.
"Stomachache?" A hum, Kei nodded, writing it down on his phone notes just in case. "Headache?" A hum. "Chest pain?" No response, he supposed he had to take that as a no, so he didn't write it down. "Sore throat?" Tobio hesitated but he ended up not saying anything, maybe he did have a sore throat but he supposed it was from the vomit. "Cold?" A hum again. Kei nodded.
He stepped out of the restroom, heading back to the kitchen. He was no doctor nor was trying to become or believe he was one, but he had to learn how to deal with himself and the people around him when being hurt or sick; it was a first aid kind of thing for emergencies mostly, so he and Tadashi often knew what to do. So he took a painkiller pill and another one for nausea and dizziness.
Tobio sighed in relief when the blonde came back with a glass of water, two pills and a towel, extending him the first two items and placing the towel next to the sink. He swallowed the pills and the water and returned the glass to Kei, thanking him in a whisper, receiving an affirmative hum in return.
He was then left alone as Tsukishima stepped out of the bathroom to give him some privacy for taking his warm bath. So he did so, he took off his clothes and let himself be surrounded by the warm water.
It felt like his body was burning, cause of the fever, but he had to make it through since the warm water was the only thing that could either kill him or thermoregulate his body. He hoped the latter.